News that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) received intelligence of possible surveillance of Trump administration officials from two people from within the Trump administration rocked the political world on Thursday — and one longtime GOP strategist thinks more explosive revelations are still to come.
GOP strategist Rick Wilson wrote a tweet storm on Thursday afternoon that connected the dots that link Nunes, White House officials Michael Ellis and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, White House political strategist Steve Bannon, and disgraced former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
“Two White House operatives — possibly improperly — accessed classified to pass it to Nunes as part of a political pushback operation,” Wilson began. “Who ordered it? Who asked for them to do so? If you think two lower-level guys took it upon themselves to make this play, I’ve got a Nigerian prince with $30 million dollars for you. Who is running the WH pushback operation on Trump’s Russia scandal? It rhymes with Beeve Stannon.”
From there, Wilson connected the entire story back to Flynn, who was ousted after it was revealed that he lied to the public and members about the Trump administration about the nature of his contacts with Russian government officials.
“Flynn’s stay-behind agent Cohen-Watnick was about to be shitcanned by [National Security Adviser H.R.] McMaster,” Wilson explained. “Cohen-Watnick — the NSC intel director — was a Flynnite from DIA days. Flynn was gone but the channel was still open.”
However, Wilson noted that both Bannon and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner both personally pushed back on McMaster’s desire to fire Cohen-Watnick because he is “helping run the pushback operation on Russia with Nunes.”
“Strap in tight,” Wilson concluded. “It’s going to be a rough landing.”